X-Men #25 - Featuring stunning Molina art

[Swashbuckler]

http://th04.deviantart.net/fs70/300W/i/2011/320/3/7/x_men_25_by_zurdom-d4gd39j.jpg

Lets just get it out there, this issue was amazing. Some people find this title unnecessary, some find the mix of characters refreshing, some find it editorially mandated, and frankly none of that matters. This book is classic X-Men fun. A mission, some character progression, fun twists. That's all a comic really needs.This issue is well written with plenty of action and comedy. What's inside you ask?

- an Island resort
- an epic vampire showdown
- Warpath and a vampire get out a ruler to see whose bigger
- Psylocke stinks up the room with her open legs
- Domino throws guns around
- Storm is a BAP and holds a skull
- Jubilee freaks out and then guest stars crawl out of the woodwork

Molina's art work is fantastic here! The characters are distinct and the movement is smooth. The colors are loud and bright, which I love, but the Vampires still seem a bit spooky. A+ for the pretty pictures.

My one complaint would be that the vampires still aren't distinct enough. I would have liked one of those cheesy pages where their names are all in a caption box so I could reference them. Over all, great issue!

Best Panel:


http://xab.xanga.com/f52e350159334280939797/m223806081.jpg

[Boozier]

I, too, loved this issue. Storm was so badass. The whole vampire hunting thing is awesome. I just want an issue of them killing vamps. Fantastic art, fantastic writing, fantastic. I loved the line: "Wrestlers?"

[SunfireX]

http://th04.deviantart.net/fs70/300W/i/2011/320/3/7/x_men_25_by_zurdom-d4gd39j.jpg
ce them. Over all, great issue!

Best Panel:


http://xab.xanga.com/f52e350159334280939797/m223806081.jpg

Boom Bitch!

[Swashbuckler]

I think Dn@N will love this image more...

http://x53.xanga.com/877e1a0160532280939844/s223806124.jpg

[fortyseven]

Why does this book decide to get better after I dropped it?

[SunfireX]

I think Dn@N will love this image more...

http://x53.xanga.com/877e1a0160532280939844/s223806124.jpg

Is storm covered with stretch marks in that panel?

[Swashbuckler]

Why does this book decide to get better after I dropped it?

Honestly, the art work was 3/4 of what made this so fun. I love Conrad's art too, so I'm glad he's in the rotation with Molina hopefully. The paneling was well done and the ending really got me excited for the next issue. Domino should get some good spotlight.

[fortyseven]

I dropped it right after that Fantastic Four team-up. I loved the art but I was just so bored with the cast and story.
I never figured this book was actually going to keep this cast going.

[Prodigy55]

domino is such a loser. can someone kill her already.

[Swashbuckler]

domino is such a loser. can someone kill her already.

Next issue Prod, she will have to work hard to defeat who I suspect they are putting her up against.

[LooneyKoala]

I finally made the desicion to drop this after this issue just over a month ago...really glad I haven't now! Was finding it quite boring to be honest, but this current arc is actually great :biggrin: This issue was by far the best I've read from this series, and if it carries on like this it'll be great :biggrin:

I do think we need to learn the names of the Forgiven again though...

And that cover! I love the cover for this!!!

[Omegastorm]

Can't wait to read and buy this issue.

o

[Ingonyama]

Looks fun. Storm engaging in hand-to-hand combat (or anything that has her being more than the functional equivalent of a plasma-ball in your bedroom, pretty and utterly pointless) is always a win for me. :)

Storm and Psylocke need to work together more.

[Swashbuckler]

Storm and Psylocke need to work together
more.

They both had ridiculous ass-shots in this issue. Lady-bits everywhere.

[Ingonyama]

Hmm. My enthusiasm's a little dampened by that.

They should have put Storm in her ReLoad outfit and Betsy in the new X-Force costume. Let the characters be awesome without having to make them cheesecake.

...And that's why I do not work for Marvel's marketing department.

[Ziral]

I'm enjoying Molina's art less and less. I think he's regressing. It's been a steady decline since that Legacy issue.

And all those ass/crotch shots are terrible.

[Swashbuckler]

I'm enjoying Molina's art less and less. I think he's regressing. It's been a steady decline since that Legacy issue.

And all those ass/crotch shots are terrible.

are you kidding? This book looked fantastic today!

[Pixie_Solanas]

are you kidding? This book looked fantastic today!

Molina is fantastic. I then contrast his issue to the garishly LOUD art in Legacy and it looks even better.

[Swashbuckler]

Molina is fantastic. I then contrast his issue to the garishly LOUD art in Legacy and it looks even better.

Agreed. The Cartoon Network vibe of the faces in Legacy kills me. This was colorful but with good technique.

[LordAllMighty]

Thank God, I was really on the line with this team but now we get some action and I'm happy again. I like how Storm says something and the team just does it, no question asked, reminds a lot of the old Aussie Days.:biggrin:

I still hate the Vampire story but this issue will carry me on for another couple of months

3 1/2 stars from me out of 5

[Perfection/Emma 2]

And this is why people should appreciate Gischler more. I will be reading this comic sometime at work this week.

[BBeeryan]

Storm punched a bitch in the mouth!? Get it, gurl boom!

[Tiamatican]

A good story. But Psylocke in high heels? Really? Really? High heels have long been a part of Storm's wardrobe, and they lend her a certain power.

But Psylocke? The girl's a ninja. Ninjas do not wear high heels. That was an idiotic choice on Molina's part, and it actually made me like the issue less. It violated a pretty key part of her design.

It really annoyed me seeing her in high heels.

[BBeeryan]

The baddest bitches throw down in heels. Apologize before you get a stern talking to.

[Pixie_Solanas]

A good story. But Psylocke in high heels? Really? Really? High heels have long been a part of Storm's wardrobe, and they lend her a certain power.

But Psylocke? The girl's a ninja. Ninjas do not wear high heels. That was an idiotic choice on Molina's part, and it actually made me like the issue less. It violated a pretty key part of her design.

It really annoyed me seeing her in high heels.

lol, get real. Why should it even matter, her whole ninja tomfoolery was thinly-veiled masturbatory wankfodder for a 90s market CRAVING asian hot chix in their comic readings. The fact that they stuck her in flats was so stupid and a complete misreading of whatever the impetus was behind her transformation.

Yeah, bare, teriyaki-glazed asscheek blowing in the wind never struck you as odd or out of place, but heels violated your arbitrary sense of aesthetic appreciation?

[Mikl C]

I thought it was pretty bad. This team is random, and doesn't mesh well. The story is more vampire nonsense. The art? Was merely ok. Storm looked jank as hell in a few scenes. 2.4/5

[Tiamatican]

lol, get real. Why should it even matter, her whole ninja tomfoolery was thinly-veiled masturbatory wankfodder for a 90s market CRAVING asian hot chix in their comic readings. The fact that they stuck her in flats was so stupid and a complete misreading of whatever the impetus was behind her transformation.

Yeah, bare, teriyaki-glazed asscheek blowing in the wind never struck you as odd or out of place, but heels violated your arbitrary sense of aesthetic appreciation?
Damn it, if the costume's going to be silly and ridiculously impractical, in can at least be consistent!

As an aside, Psylocke became Asian in the '80s. It was thinly-veiled wankfodder for Claremont craving Asian hot chicks.

[Pixie_Solanas]

I found it a nice touch on the part of Molina, for amping up a different angle of sexuality instead of the pervasive trend of just panel-focusing on a shapely ass (the Deodato construct).

[darknessatnoon]

I think it's fair to assume by now that this was garbage, sight unseen.

[Swashbuckler]

I think it's fair to assume by now that this was garbage, sight unseen.

You'd be assuming wrong. BAP!

[Saturius]

As an aside, Psylocke became Asian in the '80s. It was thinly-veiled wankfodder for Claremont craving Asian hot chicks.

Actually blame Jim Lee. Claremont only intended for her transformation to be temporary.

[MarvelMaster616]

I really enjoyed this issue. It was a major improvement over the last issue, which really felt narrow and out of place. In this issue we didn't have to wait until the last page to see the rest of the X-men show up. We also got some nice dramatic moments with Jubilee that highlights her struggles with becoming a vampire. It's a story that's been told in other books, but this issue brought out some genuine drama and I really like where Gischler is going with this. Now more Marvel villains look to be on their way. I can't imagine why they would want a hippie vampire like Kodo, but I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of it. :cool:

[SJNeal]

I think it's fair to assume by now that this was garbage, sight unseen.

You are 100% correct.

20 pages of blegh. I finished it less than an hr ago and only remember lots of dead vampires, a midget Warpath, and Storm's fivehead distracting from everything else on each page it appeared on.

[slacker]

This was so cool!

Lol at Deadpool coming for the bounty.

Looks like some matchups are coming up:

Warpath/Colossus vs Faux-Bane
Dalmation face vs Swirl girl
Psylocke vs the other Hand.

[Deus ex Chris]

This book has felt pretty soulless to me, but that changed with this issue. It wasn't without problems, but it had a spark. The art definitely helped, but I feel like Gischler found a groove too.

[Talisman]

Boom Bitch!

That panel makes me want to get this book IMMEDIATELY.

[FiddleFaddle]

The art was EVERYTHING and the only thing, the book gave good cliffhanger but I'm sure it won't deliver

[Talisman]

lol, get real. Why should it even matter, her whole ninja tomfoolery was thinly-veiled masturbatory wankfodder for a 90s market CRAVING asian hot chix in their comic readings. The fact that they stuck her in flats was so stupid and a complete misreading of whatever the impetus was behind her transformation.

Yeah, bare, teriyaki-glazed asscheek blowing in the wind never struck you as odd or out of place, but heels violated your arbitrary sense of aesthetic appreciation?
Amen on all that.

Damn it, if the costume's going to be silly and ridiculously impractical, in can at least be consistent!

As an aside, Psylocke became Asian in the '80s. It was thinly-veiled wankfodder for Claremont craving Asian hot chicks.
lol. Cover dated at December of 89. Hardly being an 80's asian fetish.

[Windrider]

This issue was pure AWESOMENESS!!!! Molina's art was mesmerizing and the
story was classic x-men fun.....something that has been missing for hte longest time in the x-books IMO.

Best of all, I LOVED the Storm badassery. BAP Beezy! Gischler gets props on this issue :biggrin:!

[SJNeal]

This thread is about to make my head explode. The issue was shit from front to back, and Molina's "art" was the most offensive thing about it.

Unless this is an early April Fools joke. In which case, well played.

[Herring]

Warning: You're in a review thread, you get spoilers.

Plot:
Technical Genius Madison Jefferies comes up with a brilliant idea AFTER TWO WEEKS of sending Storm on wild goose chases to random vampire nests: he'll set Cerebra to vampire mode, rewind to the point just before they lost contact with Jubilee, and follow Jubilee's dot to see where it goes. It apparently took him two weeks to come up with this. You can see why Dr. Nemesis treats the guy with contempt, and no wonder Storm is so pissed off throughout the issue.

Pissed off Storm and her merry band set off to rescue Jubilee, and walk straight into an ambush by the ISO vampire team. ISO vampire team just wants to talk, but Storm is racist against vampires and alpha enough to assert complete mind control of her team, causing a fight to ensue. The X-Men are basically humliated by the ISO vampires: Psylocke puts in another UNSATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE against Kodo, and is quickly disarmed. Domino gets disarmed, knocked out and is about to get her head cutoff when Jubilee shows up and orders them all to stop fighting. And they all immediately obey, because Jubilee is even more alpha than Storm.

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/4853/jubileemotherfuckerssca.jpg

Jubilee quickly explains that she's had to run away because she's on a team full of retards who are doing the vampire equivalent to dosing her with cocaine. Storm tries to argue that Jubilee might have killed someone were she not under the mentorship the security/recon detachment, apparently forgetting that Jubilee was the only one of the security/recon unit who didn't kill anyone last arc (with the possible exception of Warpath).

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/6289/jubileeteamofretards.jpg

Just as everything's worked out a bunch of assassins start showing up to kill the ISO vampires.

Review:
This issue is a typical excuse plot to make two nominally good sides fight each other. Storm acting irrationally in regards to the vampires would have actually been interesting were it expanded upon, given Dracula almost turned her back in the day. However it's not, so she just ends up looking bad. The fact that her eagerness to start a fight nearly leads to one of her team being killed compounds this. Basically another case of Gischler's story failing to live up to the possibilities offered by the premise.

The art is interesting, though I have mixed feelings on Jubilee looking that psychotic in her closeups. Storm's head kind of looks like a child's in a few of the frames as well, but that's mostly a stylistic choice. Also in a few of the shots, Storm's thighs appear more than twice as thick as her waist.

[Meehl]

This book had some spunk and personality. It was worth publishing. I can't remember the last time this book did anything but make me wonder why they bother publishing it.

-It was a team-up, but it's not just a random teammate with Spiderman or FF. The Jubes/Storm moments were nice. Domino should reference Psylocke's attire again.

-The X team continues to be weird and redundant. There is Storm, two punchers (Colossus, Warpath), and two stealthy/sexy chicks (Domino, Psylocke).

-That the X-men were taken out/fought evenly by this team of vampire rejects is distracting. The last time I can remember thinking, "Wait, why are these rejects winning?" was the Reavers in the outback. The Reaver arc was a very defining moment for the X-men, though. It's not that X-men should win all the time, but vampires shouldn't be on equal footing with an X team. I guess we can interpret this literally as this team is under-powered and/or Storm is an incompetent leader. (I can only imagine the fall out in this thread if Scott led the team in this battle and lost like Storm did.)

-What do the Storm-bot theorists think of this Storm? She's fiery and leading, and fearless. Is Storm back?

[Master of Sound]

For those who did not read the Fear Itself tie-inn (Dracula versus Hulk) or Tomb of Dracula Presents: Throne of Blood where Raizo Kodo and the forgiven were (re)introduced. This is who is who:

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110916195126/marveldatabase/images/thumb/8/86/Raizo_Kodo_%28Earth-616%29_0003.jpg/200px-Raizo_Kodo_%28Earth-616%29_0003.jpg
Raizo Kodo, leader

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111011012260/marveldatabase/images/thumb/7/73/Visigoth_%28Earth-616%29_0001.jpg/200px-Visigoth_%28Earth-616%29_0001.jpg
Visigoth, the muscles of the team

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111015011212/marveldatabase/images/thumb/f/fb/Inka_%28Earth-616%29_0002.jpg/200px-Inka_%28Earth-616%29_0002.jpg
Inka, seems to be mastress of deception or a shapeshifter and can teleport.

[Master of Sound]

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111008155911/marveldatabase/images/thumb/c/c6/Nighteyes_%28Earth-616%29_0001.jpg/200px-Nighteyes_%28Earth-616%29_0001.jpg
Nighteyes, seems to be the strategic of the team, have no idea on her special powers yet.

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111007182225/marveldatabase/images/thumb/2/2c/Ghost_Blade_%28Earth-616%29_0002.jpg/200px-Ghost_Blade_%28Earth-616%29_0002.jpg
Ghost Blade, swordfighter, mistpowers and more....

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111112192523/marveldatabase/images/thumb/c/cf/Quickshot_%28Earth-616%29_0002.jpg/200px-Quickshot_%28Earth-616%29_0002.jpg
Quickshot, the youngest of the Forgiven and the one most recently turned into a vampire is very fast..!

[steve2275]

good times

[Jackraow21]

Just bought this issue but haven't read it yet. Sounds like it was pretty good. I like this team with Storm, Jubilee, Colossus, Warpath, Domino and Psylocke. Just add Cable and it'd be a perfect Blue team counter to Uncanny X-Force...of course, it's only a matter of time before someone (probably Cable) would figure out that Betsy is pulling double-duty...and that could be fun IMO. A battle between this team and UXF would be kick-ass.

[Pixie_Solanas]

I can't stress how much I loved the art in this.

[Deus ex Chris]

I can't stress how much I loved the art in this.

Me too, aside from the gratuitous ass shots of Storm and Madame Butterfly.

[darknessatnoon]

The 4saken or 4given or whatever are a joke. There's nothing interesting or distinguishing about them. Plus, why are there 6 of them if the name has a four?

[Tracks]

Big fan of the Forgiven. Although it's kinda clear right now the Forgiven are receiving the Red Hulk/Sentry treatment, and beating everyone they come up against, it doesn't seem to be to a point thats disrespectful to any of the other characters. Hell they let Storm match up psychically with a vampire, which is pretty impressive.

[Vasilioskn]

So I haven't bought an Xmen comic for several years..... Saw the cover, and thought "why not! ". Read the issue. And I can't believe I spent 3.99 on that. I want a refund.

[darknessatnoon]

So I haven't bought an Xmen comic for several years..... Saw the cover, and thought "why not! ". Read the issue. And I can't believe I spent 3.99 on that. I want a refund.

You bought the wrong series.

[SJNeal]

So I haven't bought an Xmen comic for several years..... Saw the cover, and thought "why not! ". Read the issue. And I can't believe I spent 3.99 on that. I want a refund.

Thank you.

[CmX]

This team would better if they dropped Colossus for Gambit, but he's on the gold team so...

[Pixie_Solanas]

This team would better if they dropped Colossus for Gambit, but he's on the gold team so...

What difference could that possibly make?

[Come To Deathstrike]

drop domino for Bird Brain
drop storm for Nekra
drop colossus for Chamber
drop jubilee for Boom Boom
drop psylocke for Angel Salvadore
drop warpath for hepzibah

Now that's a book.

[Jackraow21]

I can't stress how much I loved the art in this.

Agreed. It was fantastic! And I really like this team. Much more interesting than the all-powerful X-Tinction team IMO. Solid issue overall.

[Pixie_Solanas]

lol, Joe Casey used Angel Salvadore as a paperweight in Vengeance.

His Williamsburg-hipstress Black Knight was the star of the show.

[ohsnapulon5000]

Next issue Prod, she will have to work hard to defeat who I suspect they are putting her up against.
I like when Domino actually has to work at things. Especially if it's in defense of her life.


domino is such a loser. can someone kill her already.
Agreed across the board! Not even giving her a quirk like "OCD" saves her character...


Hmm. My enthusiasm's a little dampened by that.

They should have put Storm in her ReLoad outfit and Betsy in the new X-Force costume. Let the characters be awesome without having to make them cheesecake.

...And that's why I do not work for Marvel's marketing department.
Betsy only wears the thongkini on Blue Side missions to throw Cyke off. It so far is her best attempt at incognito subterfuge in years.

[Swashbuckler]

lol, Joe Casey used Angel Salvadore as a paperweight in Vengeance.

His Williamsburg-hipstress Black Knight was the star of the show.

Miss.America calling out Jen Walters was my favorite.

[Imraith Nimphais]

(sees the panel of Storm and Jubilee)

Oh My Goddess!
I take back wot I said after viewing the prev...the art is rubbish!
Clapping Thunder Thighs, indeed!

[Pixie_Solanas]

(sees the panel of Storm and Jubilee)

Oh My Goddess!
I take back wot I said after viewing the prev...the art is rubbish!
Clapping Thunder Thighs, indeed!

She's no spring chicken, Imraith Nimphais.

[CmX]

(sees the panel of Storm and Jubilee)

Oh My Goddess!
I take back wot I said after viewing the prev...the art is rubbish!
Clapping Thunder Thighs, indeed!

She was giving Beyonce realness this issue.

[LordAllMighty]

She was giving Beyonce realness this issue.

LOL, if you like then you should have put a ring on it.:biggrin: